Ivy Bottini

Ivy Bottini (born 1926 in New York) is an American women's rights and LGBT rights activist.^[1]

Life and career

From 1944 until 1947, she attended Pratt Institute School of Art, where she earned a certificate in advertising graphic design and illustration.^[1] She married Edward Bottini in 1951.^[2] She was employed for sixteen years at the east coast daily newspaper Newsday, until her move to Los Angeles in 1971.^[1]

In 1966, she helped found the New York chapter of the National Organization for Women.^[3][4] Soon after she left her husband and their two daughters Laura and Lisa and moved in with a woman in New York City.^[2][5] In 1968, she was elected the president of the New York chapter of the National Organization for Women; she came out as a lesbian later that year.^[2][3][4] In 1969, she designed the logo for the National Organization for Women which is still their logo today.^[6][7] Also in 1969, she held a public forum titled "Is Lesbianism a Feminist Issue?", which was the first time lesbian concerns were introduced into the National Organization for Women.^[8] In 1970, she led a demonstration at the Statue of Liberty where she and others from the National Organization for Women's New York chapter draped an enormous banner over a railing which read "WOMEN OF THE WORLD UNITE!" ^[9][10] During her time at the National Organization for Women's New York chapter she also introduced feminist consciousness raising, which was later adapted for all chapters in the organization to participate in.^[1]

However, later in 1970 Betty Friedan engineered the expulsion of lesbians from the National Organization for Women's New York chapter, including Ivy Bottini.^[11]

She moved to Los Angeles in 1971.^[1] There she founded AIDS Network LA, the first AIDS organization in Los Angeles, and the Los Angeles Lesbian/Gay Police Advisory Board.^[7][12][13] In 1977, she created and hosted the first Lesbian/Gay radio show on a mainstream network (KHJ in Los Angeles.) ^[7] In 1978, she was the Southern California deputy director of the successful campaign against the Briggs Initiative (No on 6), which would have banned gays and lesbians from teaching in California's public schools. She later chaired the successful No on LaRouche and No on 64 Initiative campaign.^[12] The Larouche initiative (Number 64), which was not passed, might have quarantined people with AIDS.^[14][15] In 1981 she was appointed by then-governor Jerry Brown as Commissioner for "California Commission on Aging", making her the first "out" lesbian or gay person to be appointed to a state board or commission.^[7] In 1983 she co-founded AIDS Project Los Angeles.^[16]

She also studied acting at Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute and performed a one-woman show, "The Many Faces of Women", nationwide.^[12]

In 1993, she co-founded the nonprofit organization Gay & Lesbian Elder Housing, which in 2007 developed Triangle Square, the first affordable housing complex for gay and lesbian senior citizens in the country.^[16]

From 1998 until 1999, she co-chaired the addiction and recovery city task force, and established the ad hoc committee City of West Hollywood, to publicize the issue of lesbian and gay partner abuse.^[8]

Also in 1999, she chaired the National Organization for Women's annual national conference, called Pioneer Reunion, in Beverly Hills.^[8]

She co-chaired the Lesbian and Gay Advisory Board for the City of West Hollywood from 2000 to 2010.^[16]

In 2001, she was part of a lesbian and gay rights coalition that formed the Alliance for Diverse Community Aging Services to help lesbian and gay seniors obtain assisted living and affordable retirement.^[8]

In 2009, the film On These Shoulders We Stand profiled Ivy Bottini as well as ten other LGBT activists from the early LGBT rights movement in Los Angeles.^[17][18]

In 2011, she designed t-shirts for the Dyke March in Los Angeles.^[14]

Bottini now works as a graphic artist.^[7] She and a group called the Lavender Effect are currently advocating for a LGBT museum in Los Angeles.^[19] She is also advocating for the creation of an AIDS memorial in West Hollywood.^[16]

Her papers are held by ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives.^[2]

Awards

In 1991, she received Drama Logues' "Best Performance Award" for Against the Rising Sea. ^[7]

In 1998, the Ivy Theater was established in her honor in West Hollywood.^[7][20]

In 2001, in the Matthew Shepard Memorial Triangle a tree was planted in her honor, and a plaque placed at the foot of it.^[7][21]

In 2007, she received the Morris Knight Lifetime Achievement Award from Christopher Street West Los Angeles LGBT Pride. ^[9]

References